50 level crossings to be removed

The CEO of Watergardens Shopping Centre appeared to be very enthusiastic about plans to remove the crossing - maybe they might even foot some of the bill.

If he's enthusiastic, it's because he won't be picking up the tab.

Further update to the Main Road St Albans project
Sunbury line to be closed to all trains between Sunshine and Sunbury from January 2nd to January 9th inclusive with bustitution occurring .
Main Road St Albans to be closed to vehicular traffic from January 2nd to the 22nd inclusive for major works .

Contact Crossover

Great little article in The Age this morning regarding the imminent decommissioning of the Gardiner Station signal-box due to the crossing being removed. While the box will be decommissioned, as it is a very old part of the station precinct, all landscape impressions indicate that it will be retained, although possibly moved - it's potential new use is unclear.

Contact jdekorte

Anyone have any ideas how they may do Reservoirs crossing? That is going to be a pain to be done (and likely to do both BEL and RES crossings at same time I would think), as there is not a huge amount of room between High St/Spring St/Cheddar Rd. Will cause huge disruptions though!— topher1976

I'll go out on a limb and say I don't believe that lowering the rail line is the way to go with either High St Reservoir or Bell St Bell.

With Bell St the rail line is just 1 of 4 impediments to traffic flow in that 1 km of Bell St. St Georges Rd, High St & Plenty Rd all add to the congestion. So what about a bridge, similar to the Adelaide urban Super way, to cross the 3 intersections and the rail crossing? I would imagine that a bridge would not be politically correct in that area but it seems to be the practical solution with less disruption to the trains at least. Could start east of the old PANCH and back to ground level west of St Georges Rd. Through traffic take the bridge and turning traffic stay at ground level. How much through traffic is caught up in that area?

As does raising the line at High St Reservoir. Could be built with only a small interruption in that area with the line and new station going over the current car park and the old station and line converted to a car park. Any way just a thought and I will crawl back into my hole now.Dave-the-slave

With Reservoir, as with many others, you have to consider gradients. A detailed concept study was done for Reservoir with very complex staging, but under grounding alongside is the only option. The station area is suitable for a transport interchange, retail, parking hub, linking the commercial areas either side and a developer would build the new station.
With Bell, this is just as complex, undergrounding is the way to go, come and see the Adelaide Superway to see what a huge footprint is needed for elevated roads. The dive would impact Cramer Park and a better option would be to stay down below Cramer Ave and Murray Road and put Preston underground with a developer getting the area in return for the cost of lowering the railway.
I'm afraid the design study is not in the public domain.

Contact 62440

The Glenelg tram overpass of South Road in Adelaide is a good model for what could be done with an elevated line at Reservoir. It was built for $32m in 2009 and included a temporary track that was able to keep services operating during most of the construction period. The overpass has won several architectural awards.

Contact potatoinmymouth

Went past works on the Burke Rd crossing removal today, it's coming along quickly. The station canopy is in place and works are progressing to commission the new island tram stop; they have yet to fully excavate the eastern cutting though.

Contact topher1976

The Glenelg tram overpass of South Road in Adelaide is a good model for what could be done with an elevated line at Reservoir. It was built for $32m in 2009 and included a temporary track that was able to keep services operating during most of the construction period. The overpass has won several architectural awards.Malcolm M

The steepest grade for trams is far more severe than for heavy rail, South Road overpass was constrained by stations at each end and is the ruling grade for trams. The approach to Reservoir is a ruling grade which would have to continue for several hundred metres to reach a near plateau for the platform.

Contact Myrtone

It's been a while since the last update on the Frankston line grade separation, but the Christmas/New Year break is a good place to take stock.

As has already been mentioned, the Down line has been taken out of service to allow piling on the eastern side of the line in the McKinnon/Bentleigh areas. However, I strongly suspect that it will be restored to service next year to allow piling work on the western side of the line as 1) the signalling is still service (and was recabled), 2) the overhead has not been removed (and was transferred to the new overhead stanchions), and 3) the platforms at Ormond and Bentleigh are intact.

Major road closures at McKinnon Rd and Centre Rd were postponed until the new year to avoid being a Christmas grinch to the shopkeepers in McKinnon and Bentleigh.

Current state of play...

Signalling equipment located on the eastern side of the line has been relocated to new ground enclosures located between the Centre and Up lines. The signalling appears to have been completely recabled, with the new orange cables being run up the back of the existing masts. Ground level signalling equipment (trainstops, track circuit equipment) on the Down line has been moved clear of the track, but is still wired. The signals on the Down line remain lit, but are all at stop.

Major work at Ormond has ceased, with the two major piling rigs being relocated to McKinnon and Bentleigh. The older rig, which had been working north along Cadby Ave, has been relocated to Bentleigh. The run of the cast-in-situ piles extends along Cadby Ave from north of Murray Rd to North Road (or very near to North Road). The newer rig, which had been working south along Katandra Rd and which did the work at North Rd, has been relocated to McKinnon. It's difficult to tell how much of the piling has been completed in this section as the track here is in a slight cutting. I have a sense that it's not quite completed. It's been known for a while that the new Ormond station will have two entrances, one each side of North Road. It's now been confirmed that both sides will have lifts and stairs.

Substantial temporary fencing has been provided between the Down and Centre lines to protect the worksites. This commences north of Murray Road, and extends to Brewer Road.

A small piling rig is working south of Murray Road towards McKinnon (along the eastern property boundary). This uses conventional U shaped sheet steel piles. It's apparently a known as a 'Giken' - and appears to be this machine http://www.giken.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/SilentPiler_SCU-600M_ver043en01.pdf. Presumably the steel piles are temporary and concrete retaining walls will be constructed later. This type of piling will probably be used whereever private property abuts the railway line and the big rigs cannot be used (i.e. west side of line north of Ormond through to McKinnon, east side of line from Murray Rd to Bentleigh, and from Centre Rd to the end of the cutting).

No 3 platform at McKinnon has been cleared (except for a 'Dumb ways to die' poster and a bin - go figure). The northern steel extension has been removed to allow vehicle access to the Down line. The newer drilling rig was assembled in the former eastern car park over the week before Christmas. If I've interpreted the cabalistic markings on McKinnon Road, the bridge piles will be located outside the existing boom barriers - the eastern piles will nearly be in a line with the property boundary. The McKinnon Rd bridge will be in two spans with a centre row of piles located between the existing Centre and Up lines. The station concourse will be on the northern side of McKinnon Rd with a depth of around 15 metres. A short section (50 metres or so) of the Down line has been removed south of McKinnon Rd. I'd suspect this is to allow access for the large piling machines, the tracks of which would not be kind to rail. The overhead over the Down line has been pulled to one side to allow space to work. The (council) public toilets which were formerly located adjacent to the level crossing on the corner of Nicholson and McKinnon Rds were demolished on the Monday after the track changeover. Temporary public toilets, feeding a septic tank, have been located slightly further south on Nicholson St. When construction work is completed, new public toilets will be located in the new station buildings. The council will maintain them.

The older drilling rig is being assembled in the eastern car park next to the platform at Bentleigh. The Down platform is intact, including all platform furniture and the building. The small shoe repair shop, the Parkiteer, and the PSO office (Ballieu box) on the western side of the line have been demolished. The shoe repair shop has been relocated to a portable on Nicholson St. The western entrances to the former subway were excavated and then refilled. South of Centre road the relay boxes for the level crossing (located on the eastern property boundary) were replaced by new boxes between the Centre and Up lines.

Planned works are now:

Fri 22 Jan - Mon 1 Feb (9 days): construct bridge deck at North Rd and piling at McKinnon Rd. North and McKinnon Rds closed, together with the rail line.

Sometime in 'early to mid 2016' (sic) Ormond, McKinnon, and Bentleigh stations will be closed and bus services provided. The line will be closed for 5 weeks in June/July 2016. The project will be completed in late 2016.

Note that they are still being very cagey about exactly when the three stations will be closed and how long they will be closed for. My suspicion is that they'll be closed for a significant period of time. If I had to guess, I'd suspect that McKinnon will close when they change back to the Down/Centre lines in early 2016 (as it now lacks a workable platform on the Down line), with the other two stations closing in June with the big shut. The big shut will only see the concourse and platform structures constructed, with the station buildings and fit outs coming after the line has been reopened.

Contact historian

I'm skeptical about there being 2 entrances on either side of North Rd to Ormond Station down below. Anyone got any artists impressions/plans. I'll also check out the progress at Burke Rd, Gardiner soon before that level crossing gets shut forever prior to removal.

Contact historian

Someone needs to tell PTV that the Glen Waverley is closed next week.
I had a hell of a job convincing them today that there were no trains between Burnley and Glen Waverley next week. The bloke simply did not know nor did he know where Glen Iris station was. We all have our doubts about PTV but I was absolutely amazed at the rubbish that I was told.
On reflection, I think that I must have got the Mumbai Metro by mistake - no prize for guessing how I arrived at that conclusion but I might as well have for all the good it did me.
At the end of the inquiry I was asked to complete a satisfaction survey. When I told him that what he had told me was absolute rubbish he hung up......... How do these people get and hold their jobs ?
Sheer and utter total incompetence.

Posted: 29 Dec 2015 21:30

Last edited by YM-Mundrabilla on 29 Dec 2015 21:32; edited 1 time in total

Contact YM-Mundrabilla

The CEO of Watergardens Shopping Centre appeared to be very enthusiastic about plans to remove the crossing - maybe they might even foot some of the bill.

If he's enthusiastic, it's because he won't be picking up the tab.

Further update to the Main Road St Albans project
Sunbury line to be closed to all trains between Sunshine and Sunbury from January 2nd to January 9th inclusive with bustitution occurring .
Main Road St Albans to be closed to vehicular traffic from January 2nd to the 22nd inclusive for major works .Crossover

-Work to be completed over the shutdown is as follows .
-Installing new overhead structures along the line between Ginifer & St Albans Station sites
-Earthworks and construction for the bridge at the Main Road , crossing site for the Road over Rail bridge .NB This crossing will be closed to vehicular traffic until January 22nd
-Excavations to lower the rail line at both the Main Road and Furlong Road sites
-Construction of a new Pedestrian bridge over the line , this is to replace an existing ""at grade "pedestrian crossing approximately 1/2 Kilometer on the Sunbury side of St Albans
-Building retaining walls at the Furlong Road site . This is the first stage of the construction of the new Ginifer station ..
-Demolition of some of the platform structutes on platform 2 at the existing Ginifer station . ? Which structures .
As of today work is in full swing along this whole section of line . .

Contact Crossover

The removal of High St Reservoir and Bell St Preston were both announced by the State Government today, with construction set to begin in 2018. Will be very interesting to see how they plan for that 6 way intersection..

Contact hotdogpants1

Channel 9 has covered the early stages of the current Glen Waverly line shutdown with a report from Gardiner station. If you can ignore the comments from Michael O'Brien & others, the deconstruction parts are interesting to watch - especially when they push over an overhead stanchion and nearly take out the signal box! Anyway, Channel 9 padded out the report with other LXRA material which is now a bit out of date. But the boom gates were removed on the first night, and the parts could be reused elsewhere.

Contact jdekorte

Had a brief look at Burke Road following the weekend's initial work, got this pic from the up end of the track already slewed towards the new station. As of current the major work is being done on the down end of the alignment where the new cutting wall is being constructed. Appears to be moving very quickly, excited to see the end result.

Contact jdekorte

I do wonder if it would have been better to have closed that section of track in the late afternoon, rather than late at night, so that there could be something special happening during the last use of the tram square.

Contact Myrtone

I do wonder if it would have been better to have closed that section of track in the late afternoon, rather than late at night, so that there could be something special happening during the last use of the tram square.Myrtone

Late afternoon is the middle of the afternoon peak hour. Not a great time to be seeing the end of trains or closing roads. Late at night is a much better time because no-one is around.

Contact jdekorte

I do wonder if it would have been better to have closed that section of track in the late afternoon, rather than late at night, so that there could be something special happening during the last use of the tram square.Myrtone

What exactly would that achieve other than to inconvenience tens of thousands of people who would otherwise have travelled through that crossing in that particular afternoon? What just to have some pissy little ceremony no normal person could give a toss about? I don't think so.

The State government is getting way too much mileage out of these crossing removals as it is. If I see one more pointless political press conference in front of a level crossing, I swear I am going to kick something.

Contact Gman_86

I do wonder if it would have been better to have closed that section of track in the late afternoon, rather than late at night, so that there could be something special happening during the last use of the tram square.Myrtone

mate u need to get a life, or give having railways as a hobby away. U r talking verbal diarrohea..............

Contact trainbrain

Crossing removal is inevitably going to cause inconvenience and disruptions to rail and road uses alike. Every effort needs to be made to minimise this, and if that means doing things at night, so be it.